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Topic Review (Newest First)

03-02-2014 12:35 PM

BoTaBe

Herzlich Willkommen!
So sorry to hear your dog has HD but even greater you adopted him nonetheless! "Goldakupunktur" (no idea what the English term is ) helped a few GSD I know that had HD. One of them is 11 years now and is doing great.

Food: Just like some other posters said I wouldn't allow him to eat as much as he wants. I'd measure the food and keep an eye on his weight. My male GSD gets half of the "empfohlene Fütterungsmenge"! So not everything that's printed on the package applies to every dog! Some need more, but most of them need (much) less than the amount the manufacturers print on their products...

03-02-2014 10:43 AM

MichaelE

Guten Tag, wilkommen im Forum.

03-02-2014 10:32 AM

Nigel

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new pup! We feed measured amounts 2x a day. We have one that would at least attempt to eat the entire bag. Best to fed measured amounts and adjust if necessary to maintain the desired weight.

03-02-2014 10:14 AM

MaggieRoseLee

Welcome and you will learn a GSD is NOT a poodle!

Needs alot more time/training and work too! Are there any dog classes available so you can have a great start and continue on the right path?

Do NOT let him eat all he wants! He'll weigh a thousand pounds if he's anything like my girls! I only give mine 1 cup in the am of PREMIUM (no grain Taste of the Wild) and 1 cup in the pm. I may have to tweak that just a bit if their exercise level is higher (summer time with lots of hiking and training).

Sure you know to train with treats so make sure to mentally calorie count for that.

with HD especially, you want to keep him as lean as possible, weight on those hips is not good

Now 80lbs may be good for him depending on his structure, but he may stand to lose a few. Can't tell you without seeing a pic probably.

Anyhow, mine would eat a 40# bag of food and have always been hogs I limit my adults food to 2x a day, 2cups each meal, they get some treats in between, a biscuit here and there type of treat.

How much is eating when you feed?

Good luck with the surgery..Swimming is a good way to build/keep up muscle tone and low impact

03-02-2014 09:10 AM

Loneforce

Welcome Aboard!

03-02-2014 09:00 AM

Max Power

Greetings from Germany

We adopted a beautiful boy GSD from the tierheim Munich last Thursday. He is 11 months old and 80 lbs. This is the first dog I have ever had. I have only had standard poodles, which are poodles, not dogs. After 35 years of the anarchy of poodles, I am finally looking forward to a dog who wants to listen and obey and not some free-thinking anarchist with her own agenda. Anyways, he has HD and I am investigating with the orthopedic university veterinary clinics in Brno, Czech, Munich, DE, and Padova, Italy, to see about surgery.

This dog would eat all day long if left to his own devices, so I have to limit his food. I never had to do this with the poodles. They never overate and would nibble here and there. The shelter was feeding him 2x a day. I am feeding him 2x per day, allowing him to eat as much as he wants in one sitting. When he walks away, I pick up the food. Is this ok or should I carefully measure out much he gets?

He is already very protective of my wife and our old standard poodle, a 14 year old who is blind. She needs to keep away from the rose bushes to keep from injuring her eyes on the thorns. Argo, our new GSD, observed me do this once and took over from me, placing himself between the poodle and the rose bush. I think he considers her an old, blind sheep in need of herding.